The Stag Hunt

This second stag hunt composition by Cranach the Elder reinforces the importance of hunting scenes in his court production. The Electoral Saxon court at Wittenberg under Frederick the Wise, John the Steadfast, and their successors maintained elaborate hunting establishments, and Cranach documented their pursuits in images that served simultaneously as records of specific events and as glorifications of aristocratic sport. The two hunt paintings suggest either different events or different periods of composition.

The hunt scene is presented in a panoramic format with the action distributed across the picture space. Cranach's characteristic precise draughtsmanship and his attention to the specific breeds of hound and the appearance of the stag give the scene documentary as well as decorative value.